Brand Licensing Agreement Templates

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Use My Fill-in-the-blank Sample Contracts To Help Your Negotiations

You’re the owner of a brand or intellectual property (IP). You’ve identified viable licensees to manufacture and market your products. You’re in serious discussions with one or more firms. How do you make sure you negotiate a favorable contract?

Use a product licensing agreement template that helps you know what to ask for, what to negotiate and how to put it in understandable language.

The definitions, requirements and terms stipulated in a licensing contract are critically important negotiation points. Using a robust brand licensing agreement template, like the one we offer, can help you set the framework for discussions with licensees.

Licensing Contract Templates Used by Fortune 500 Brands

Excellent templates–like ours which are modeled after Fortune 500 brand owners–can give you a striking edge by providing clause-by-clause examples of advantageous positions.

In addition, you can save thousands in legal fees. Yes, you’ll use attorneys to review the final contract but why involve them early on when they can’t really help you?

While attorneys are indispensable in addressing the legal language involved with clauses like reps & warranties and indemnification and infringement they’re probably not going to be familiar enough with licensing agreement terms, including test protocols, authorized channels, approvals and quality controls, to negotiate them properly on your behalf.

You can absolutely use these robust templates as legally binding contracts between two parties –The licensor who owns a copyright, trademark, patent, service mark, trade secret, know-how, or other IP and the Licensee who is receiving a license to use the IP.

 

Get two Brand License Agreement Templates for the price of one!

Our attorney-drafted Brand License Agreement Template Package includes 2 brand licensing/intellectual property agreements– a shorter, 16-page document for smaller, less complicated contracts and a longer 40-page document for longer more complex agreements. Both are modeled after contracts developed by Newell-Rubbermaid, a leader in brand licensing.

Confused by Contracts? Read My Clause-By-Clause Explanations!

Not familiar with some of the terms and clauses you need to negotiate? No problem. My attorney-drafted Brand License Agreement Template Package includes a 58-page Get Acquainted With An Actual Brand Licensing Agreement eReport with call-outs explaining all the clauses.

Unless you, or someone on your team, has experience in negotiating licensing agreements, you risk possibly catastrophic consequences unless you understand what the clauses mean in standard licensing contracts.

For example, you must understand what items cannot be deducted from net sales. Confusion can create significant, unplanned costs and if caught in an audit, could be subject to penalty. But you won’t have to worry about that with my 58-page Get Acquainted With An Actual Brand Licensing Agreement eReport because you’ll see call-outs to the side of each important contract clause as demonstrated in this image:

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Save Money & Time With Fortune 500 Brand Licensing Agreement Templates

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To properly close a deal there are other documents you must create and get signed. Some are internal (for your higher-ups) and some are external (for your licensee). Luckily, we’ve got templates for those too. Take a look:

Nondisclosure Agreement Template:

A 3-page fill-in-the-blank NDA that legally protects your intellectual property.

Letter of Intent Template:

A 3-page memo to send the licensee.

Deal Terms Memo Template:

4-page memo to send the licensee.

Licensing Deal Memo Template:

What you send to senior management for approval of the deal you want to make.

Important Considerations In A Licensing Agreement

There are a number of things you must first consider before signing any sort of licensing agreement. The most important include:

Our Intellectual Property Agreement Templates Help You Consider Unexplored Factors

What factors should you consider when negotiating a product or IP plan? Here are just a few covered in our Brand Licensing Agreement Template.

Scope

Do you want to give the licensee unrestricted use of your IP? Or can the licensee use your IP only in certain ways for a limited amount of time.

In assigning “limited use” rights for your property, the rights you give need to be broad enough so licensees are interested in the deal, but narrow enough you don’t hand over unrestricted control over your asset over long periods of time.

Revenue

Some license agreements include a one-time upfront license fee. Other arrangements may include recurring royalty payments or monthly lease payments. What about ongoing maintenance charges?

Other Common Factors Covered by our Templates

Other common license agreement topics we cover include:

Tips for Creating a Brand Licensing Agreement

There are certainly benefits to licensing your company’s assets, but be sure you consider these factors in creating a licensing agreement:

Be Clear on Definitions
Be Clear On Definitions

What exactly is being licensed? Make sure the product or process is completely and clearly described, so there's no misunderstanding about what is being licensed.

How Do Royalties Work?
How Do The Royalties Work?

What gets paid and when? What happens if the licensee doesn’t meet minimum sales requirements? Is there an advance on royalties?

Monitoring and Quality Assurance
Monitoring And Quality Assurance

Initial test samples of the product, periodic checks on product quality, sales monitoring--all should be detailed in the agreement. Who determines product price? Can discounts be applied to products?

Government Regulations
Government Regulations

There may be legal restrictions on the licensee set by the government you’re not aware of.

What Ifs
The What Ifs

What if either party goes bankrupt? Or can't fulfill its obligations? Can the licensor transfer its ownership to another party? What are the penalties for violating the agreement?

30 Day Money Back Guarantee
$ 29 99

Save Money & Time With Fortune 500 Brand Licensing Agreement Templates

Not available in bookstores. You can only find it here.

Downloads as a pdf to computers, tablet and smartphones. Start reading IMMEDIATELY.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the definition of a brand licensing agreement?

A license allows an IP rights holder (the licensor) to make money from an invention or creative work by charging a user (the licensee) for the manufacture and marketing of the product or service. It’s a legal contract in which a third party (the licensee) leases the use of another company’s brand, name or likeness (the licensor). The licensee typically purchases the right to use a company’s intellectual property because it has the potential to sell more products than it would without the brand.

The licensor enters an agreement to strengthen and expand its brand beyond its current base. It’s also typically less expensive for the licensor to license with a manufacturer to produce a new line of products rather than manufacturing it themselves. And the royalties it charges licensees may add to the licensor’s profit margins.

Think of a licensing partnership as an effective way for both parties to collaborate in selling to the consumer. The licensor generally has a widely successful brand, but doesn’t make or sell products. Similarly, the licensee makes/distributes products, but may not have brand recognition. Together, they can reach an entirely new group of customers and share in the profits.

Are licensing agreements known by other names?

Yes. Don’t get confused as they all mean the same thing:

  • License Agreement
  • Intellectual Property License Agreement
  • Copyright License Agreement
  • Know-How License Agreement
  • Patent License Agreement
  • Patent and Know-How License Agreement
  • Service Mark License Agreement
  • Trade Secret License Agreement
  • Trademark License Agreement
  • Trademark and Service Mark Agreement
What are the key components of a brand licensing agreement?

It depends on the type of product category and the brand being licensed.
Typically, the main concern of the licensor is to generate revenue while protecting the brand from anything that could tarnish it–like product quality or other brand relevance concerns. Brand equity takes years to build but only days to destroy.

Some of the main business components of a brand licensing agreement include:

  • Trademarks (which trademarks are included)
  • Product Categories
  • Term
  • Contract Years (if the term is broken up by year)
  • Sales Quota
  • Minimum Guarantee
  • Royalty Rate
  • Distribution Channels
  • Territory
  • Marketing Commitment
  • Marketing and On-Shelf Dates
  • Sell-Off Period
What are the typical costs of licensing a product?

Royalties range from 4 to 14 percent for every license-emblazoned item you market plus you must guarantee a minimum annual royalty payment, part of which is due upon signing.

Who can help me negotiate a licensing agreement?

Licensors who have neither the desire nor capacity to identify, solicit and negotiate with potential licensees (let alone administer a program) may want to contract with an individual licensing agent or multi-person licensing agency.

You can also engage the services of IP attorneys who are experts in the specificity of IP law. This is probably the most expensive route. You’re probably better off negotiating by yourself (using our Brand License Agreement Tool Kit) and when you’re nearly ready to sign the license agreement, hire an intellectual property attorney to review the agreement and tell you what needs to be added, omitted or changed.

What’s the difference between a brand and intellectual property?

They’re pretty much interchangeable terms. Both are essentially intangible properties. A car is a tangible property but the name of the car–and all the meaning and emotion ascribed to that name–is intangible. Here’s a short list of intellectual properties: Art, music, poems, inventions, designs, processes, personalities, fashion, sports teams and logos.

What are the basic types of intellectual property?

There are four basic types of IP:
1 // Copyrights: They protect original works in their tangible form of expression.
2 // Patents: They protect original inventions.
3 // Trademarks: They protect words, names or symbols of goods and/or services.
4 // Trade Secrets: They protect methods, processes or systems, sensitive information, non-patented inventions, software, formulas and recipes, and other knowledge.

30 Day Money Back Guarantee
$ 29 99

Save Money & Time With Fortune 500 Brand Licensing Agreement Templates

Not available in bookstores. You can only find it here.

Downloads as a pdf to computers, tablet and smartphones. Start reading IMMEDIATELY.

Resource Guide

B2B News Network
Biz Tree
Harvard
Inc
Invention City
Investopedia
Legal Nature
Legal Templates
Oncle
Panda Doc
Reference for Business
Rocket Lawyer
TechLink
Template.net
The Balance Small Business
Unicornomy
University of Maryland
Wonder.Legal USA
World Intelligence Property Organization


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